Report: Yahoo board divided over Microsoft bid

Microsoft's billions appear to have Yahoo's board divided, according to a report Friday in the New York Post.

On Monday, Yahoo sent out a press release stating that the board had "unanimously" rejected the bid.

But some of the company's independent directors apparently don't detect a solid alternative to selling to Redmond and see CEO Jerry Yang as taking an "emotional" anything-but-Microsoft approach.

In one camp are Yahoo Chairman Ray Bostock and billionaire investor Ron Burkle, according to the newspaper, while Yang appears to have support from Softbank's Eric Hippeau and Activision CEO Robert Kotick.

"The emotional part of Yang would rather do anything but sell to Microsoft, but he doesn't have the cards to come up with a value-creating, competitive alternative for shareholders," an unnamed source told the Post.

Yang's approach is also said to have some independent directors worried about lawsuits that they are not doing their fiduciary duty by negotiating with Microsoft.

It's worth noting that in Yahoo's press release on Monday, the company stated that its independent directors have obtained separate legal advisers from the company's overall counsel.